Virgil van Dijk ran out of fresh things to say after Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton last Saturday, and the frustration in his words was unmistakable. The Reds ended March without a single league victory, having taken just one point from three Premier League matches — a return that no defending champion should be accepting.
“My initial reaction is one of frustration. I think I have been repeating myself lately,” Van Dijk told reporters at the Amex Stadium. The remark cut to the heart of Liverpool’s 2025-26 campaign: a team capable of dominant European performances, yet unable to string together consistent league form.
The Brighton defeat followed a 4-0 Champions League thrashing of Galatasaray just days earlier. That kind of whiplash — brilliance followed immediately by collapse — has defined the entire season. Between January and March alone, Liverpool beat Marseille 3-0, then lost 3-2 to Bournemouth. They dismantled West Ham 5-2, then fell 2-1 to Wolves. They destroyed Galatasaray, then lost to a Danny Welbeck brace.
Van Dijk acknowledged the injury situation is compounding the problem — he arrived at training on the Friday before the Brighton game surprised by how few players were available on the pitch. But he was clear that injuries alone cannot explain the pattern. “We can’t build on a good performance. That has to change if we are to achieve what we are trying to achieve, and that is Champions League football,” he said.
Liverpool currently sit fifth, a single point ahead of Chelsea, with Brentford and Everton only three back. The window for securing European football is narrowing fast with seven league games remaining. The Champions League continues to offer a separate route to prestige — a quarter-final against PSG is enormous — but a failure to qualify domestically would trigger serious scrutiny of both Arne Slot and the club’s summer recruitment.
Van Dijk didn’t shy away from accepting collective responsibility. “It’s down to us and so we have to do it as players, as a group — if we change that, then obviously we can be a very dangerous force,” he said. Whether the international break provides the reset Liverpool desperately need, or simply extends the agony, will become clear when they return to action.
